368 
APPENDIX. VI. 
And here I must again repeat, that what I 
describe is from a caged nightingale, because 
those which we hear in the spring are so rank, 
that they seldom sing any thing but short and 
loud jerks, which consequently cannot be com- 
pared to the notes of a caged bird, as the instru- 
ment is overstrained. 
I must also here observe, that my nightingale 
was a very capital bird; for some of them are. 
so vastly inferior, that the bird-fanciers will not 
keep them, branding them with the name of 
Frenchmen.* | 
But it is not only in tone and variety that the . 
nightingale excells; the bird also sings (if I may ~ 
I have made no mention of the bulfinch in this table, which 
is commonly considered as a singing bird; because its wild note, 
without instructions, is a most jarring and disagreeable noise. 
I have likewise omitted ¢ the redstart (which is called by the 
French Rossignol de Muraille), as 1 am not sufficiently acquaint- 
ed with its song, though it is admired by many; I should rather 
conceive, however, with Zinanni, that there is no very extraor- 
dinary merit in the notes. 
The London bird-catchers also sell sometimes the vale ham- 
mer, twite and brambling f as singing birds; but none of these 
will come within my definition of what may be deemed so. 
* One should suppose from this, that the nightingale-catcher 
had heard much of the French music; which is possibly the case, 
as some of them live in Spitta/-fields. 
+ Il culo ranzo é un ucello, (per quanto dicono) molto canoro, ma io tale 
non lo stimo. Delle uova é del nidi, p. 53. 
~ They call this bird a kate. 
